October Newsletter

Every year in the Spring and Fall, we train a cohort of “Crew Leader” volunteers who then lead their own groups of volunteers to build backyard gardens during our installation days. This model allows Growing Gardens to build between 6-10 gardens each weekend for families entering the Home Gardens program. This fall we trained an amazing and inspiring group of thirteen Crew Leaders (including some returning Crew Leaders): Jordana, Connor, Reid, Hannah, Emma, Kevin, Karen, Sam, Adam, Jason, Mikaela, Samantha, and Annie!

The garden building method we use is called “Double-Digging, Reverse Sheet-mulching”. It is a very low-cost way of building a garden, as long as you have many helpers to dig! We dig down a foot into the soil in the garden-bed area, layer grass, straw and feathermeal (“the sheet mulch”), add back in the soil with lime, gypsum, glacial rock dust, and lots of compost! For step by step instructions, see: http://www.growing-gardens.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Double-Dig-Sheet-Mulch-Instructions.pdf

Volunteer opportunities: Home Gardens is currently seeking volunteers, a short description of volunteer opportunities are listed below, for more information click here or contact emily@growing-gardens.org

Home Gardens: Crew Leaders

Get trained on our bed-building methods and help build gardens this fall!

Home Gardens: Dawn of the Bed Captains

Start a team and join our big fall event to support fresh food access for all!

We had a fantastic Pizza Picnic with Sarah Minnick of Lovely’s Fifty Fifty early this month. We had so much fun learning how Sarah makes pizzas at her shop and we were able to raise just over $3,000 for Lettuce Grow! If you missed out this year, be sure to attend next year! We would also like to thank Sarah for her generous contributions to the event, be sure to head on over to Lovely’s Fifty Fifty for some delicious pizza next time you have the chance!

On Thursday, November 2nd Growing Gardens will be hosting a storytelling event with Morgan St. Theater at the Village Ballroom. This event is open to ice cream fans of all ages. Each story will be paired with an ice cream inspired by the performance. You will be able to hear from 4 program participants how Growing Gardens has impacted their lives. Think the Moth meets the ice-cream social! Come eat, enjoy and learn more about Growing Gardens!

Happy hour from 5-6pm followed by entertainment and dessert from 6-8pm. The full menu from The Oregon Public House will be available for purchase throughout the event.